HP intros the Envy Rove 20, a portable all-in-one, plus two other AiOs

It's official: battery-powered all-in-ones you can schlep around the house are now a thing. First Sony released the Tap 20, then Lenovo followed with the Horizon and now HP makes three, with its newly announced Envy Rove 20. As the name suggests, it's a 20-inch PC you can move from room to room -- if 11.86 pounds can really be considered portable. As with other systems in its class, that IPS, 1080p display can lie nearly flat allowing you to use it as more of a tablet / twenty-first century board game machine. The difference is that there's a button to release the hinge in the back, so you don't have to pull it out by hand. Keep in mind, though, that this sophisticated design makes the Rove 20 almost half a pound heavier than the Tap 20. Sorry, you can't have it all.

On the inside, it packs a Haswell chip, with up to 1TB of storage and an 8GB SSD for caching. The built-in battery is rated for close to four hours of battery life, according to an HP rep, which would be a significant improvement over the Tap 20. Incidentally, it has both WiDi and 802.11ac, neither of which have been included on an HP all-in-one before. There's Beats Audio too (this is an HP system after all), along with a subwoofer. On the software side, meanwhile, HP's pre-installing a few board games like EA Monopoly, and there's a physical key you can use to flip the screen orientation when it's another player's turn. It'll ship sometime in July, though HP hasn't announced the price yet.

Finishing up, HP also announced two lower-end all-in-ones, the Pavilion TouchSmart 20 and 23, each of which makes use of five-point optical touch instead of a 10-point capacitive screen. Both will be available next month with a mix of 2013 AMD processors and Intel Haswell chips. The TouchSmart 20 arrives June 23rd, specifically, with a starting price of $620, while the 23 ships June 5th for $749 and up.

Filed under: Desktops, HP

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/hp-envy-rove-20-pavilion-touchsmart-20-pavilion-touchsmart-23/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Man linked to Boston bombing suspect killed by FBI in Florida

By Barbara Liston and Mark Hosenball

ORLANDO, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Chechen immigrant who was being questioned about his possible links to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was shot and killed by a federal agent in Florida on Wednesday after he suddenly turned violent, the FBI said.

A friend of the dead man identified him to Reuters as 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev, who had previously lived in Boston and knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two brothers suspected of planting two bombs at the marathon on April 15, killing three people and injuring 264.

NBC News reported that Todashev had confessed to his involvement in an unsolved 2011 triple homicide in a Boston suburb that investigators believe was drug related, citing law enforcement officials.

Authorities were investigating possible connections between Tsarnaev, who died in a shootout with police, and the 2011 incident.

Three men including a close friend of Tsarnaev were found stabbed in the neck in an apartment on September 12, 2011, in Waltham, Massachusetts. News reports said marijuana was strewn over their bodies.

Wednesday's incident took place at an apartment complex near the Universal Studios theme park, where the FBI and members of other law enforcement agencies were interviewing the man about the marathon bombing.

"A violent confrontation was initiated by the individual," the FBI said. A special agent, it said, "acting on the imminent threat posed by the individual, responded with deadly force. The individual was killed and the special agent was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries."

The possibility that Tsarnaev was connected to the Waltham murders is "being looked at seriously," said Republican Representative Peter King, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee. Other U.S. officials confirmed the investigation did involve Tsarnaev's possible role.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar are suspected of setting off two pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon finish line. Dzhokhar is being held at a prison hospital west of Boston awaiting trial on charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

"NOTHING TO HIDE"

Todashev knew Tsarnaev because both were mixed martial-arts fighters in Boston but had no connection to the bombing, a friend of Todashev, Khusen Taramov, told Reuters in an interview.

Todashev was tailed by law enforcement agents since the day the Tsarnaev brothers were identified as suspects in the Boston bombing and called in for questioning repeatedly, he said.

"They called him a lot. They would just call and question him," Taramov said, adding he and his friend had met with FBI agents on several occasions.

Asked about the 2011 triple homicide he said it never came up in the meetings with the FBI that he personally attended. He said Taramov never mentioned the murders either.

"He had nothing to hide. Everything he knew, he told them," Taramov said.

Taramov said he met FBI agents on Tuesday night outside the apartment complex where his friend was killed but was told by the FBI to leave shortly before the shooting happened around midnight. He added that Todashev, who was in the United States as a legal permanent resident, had been planning a trip back to Russia where his parents live.

Law enforcement officials have also interviewed another person of Chechen origin, ex-rebel Musa Khadzhimuratov, at his home in New Hampshire, the New York Times reported last week. Khadzhimuratov, who had served as a bodyguard to a top Chechen separatist leader during the region's civil war with Russia more than a decade ago, also had contact with Tsarnaev.

Neighbors said that in recent weeks, they had noticed what looked like undercover officers in unmarked cars in the parking lot outside the apartment complex where Todashev was shot and killed. Several neighbors said he jogged on the paths through the complex shadow boxing, and sometimes swam laps in the pool and sparred with friends on the pool deck.

Todashev was arrested on May 4 and charged with aggravated battery after getting into a fight with another man over a parking space at an Orlando shopping mall, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Orlando.

The man, who suffered a split upper lip and had several teeth knocked out of place, did not to press charges against Todashev, who was released from jail on a $3,500 bond, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.

Before the Boston bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been listed on multiple U.S. government databases, including a master list of potential terrorism suspects. U.S. authorities also were asked twice by Russia to investigate Tsarnaev for possible involvement with Islamic militants, U.S. officials have said.

Also, on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was scheduled to meet in Washington with Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Russia's interior minister. The meeting's agenda was unclear, but U.S. investigators are anxious to learn what Russian authorities knew about the Tsarnaevs and about what Tamerlan Tsarnaev did during a six-month trip to Russia last year.

(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton and Kevin Gray; Editing by David Adams, Tom Brown, David Gregorio and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-kills-florida-man-suspected-ties-boston-bomb-124918058.html

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Israeli Man Who Years Ago Helped Stop Terror Attack Shoots 4 Dead at Bank, Takes Hostage, then Kills Self Over a $1,600 Debt

Bank-Shooting

An Israeli woman is taken out of a bank in the town of Beersheba, Monday, May 20, 2013. A gunman stormed into a bank in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba Monday, killing four people in a gunfight and taking a hostage before killing himself, police said. (AP Photo/Dudu Greenspan)

Customers and employees at a Bank Hapoalim branch in Beer Sheba, Israel were sure a terrorist attack was underway when they heard shots ring out Monday afternoon.

Instead, they were witness to what appears to have been a premeditated shooting carried out by an angry customer.

According to Israeli media, Itamar Alon, a 40-year-old unemployed customer of the branch, furious that he couldn't get his credit line extended, shot bank employees and customers, killing four and then taking another employee hostage before he killed himself.

Shortly after the branch opened Monday morning, Alon unsuccessfully tried to withdraw money from the ATM machine. He entered the bank to ask for a further line of credit in the amount of $1,640, but due to his large overdraft he was denied the request.

Israeli television and newspapers reported that Alon then went home where he grabbed his gun along with three magazines of ammunition. Police sources told Israeli media that the trip home along with the large amount of bullets demonstrated his premeditated intentions to carry out a lethal attack.

Upon returning to the bank, he shot dead the bank manager Avner Cohen, 44, who had just recently begun working in that position, his loan officer Meir Zeitoun, 40, and two customers Anat Even Haim, 34, and Idan Shnitzer Savri, 22.

An eyewitness told Israel Channel 2 that he saw Alon shoot some of his victims twice, making sure that they were dead.

After his shooting spree, Alon took bank employee Miri Cohen hostage. Cohen told Channel 2 that she had been hiding under the desk with two customers when Alon found her and pulled her to the bathroom into which he locked the two of them. From inside the bathroom, Cohen said she could hear police outside the window trying to negotiate with her captor.

Ynet reports:

Describing her ordeal, Cohen said the shooter warned her to stay silent else he will shoot her. "A second later the gun was drawn in my face," she recounted.

Locked in the bathroom with the shooter, Cohen was sure she would not escape with her life.

"Thank God, it was a miracle," she said. After an hour, Alon told her to turn around with her face to the wall. "I said 'that's it, this is the end of me,' and then I lowered my head and didn't look at him and he put the gun in his mouth, I couldn't see, but I heard a shot."

Following the hour-long standoff, Alon shot and killed himself after which Cohen ran outside to safety.

Israeli media quoted police sources who described Alon as a former captain in the border police and a former security coordinator for Beersheba schools.

He was once awarded a medal by the former mayor of Beersheba for showing bravery during a terrorist attack 11 years ago. The Times of Israel reports, "Two terrorists reached an army base in the south and opened fire on soldiers, killing several. Alon, then an officer in the army, rushed to the scene and returned fire on the terrorists, helping to kill one of them."

Because of his past work in the security field, Alon was eligible for a gun permit, though it had once been temporarily revoked. As in the aftermath of mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S., the issue of gun control is already being publicly debated. In Israel, there are tight limits on those who are licensed to own a gun. Only 2.5 percent of the population can legally carry a firearm, according to the Times of Israel, which describes the emerging debate:

In the wake of Monday's killings at a Beersheba bank [...] Israeli authorities intend to further tighten regulations to reduce the number of civilians eligible to keep guns, media reports said Monday night.

The killer, Itamar Alon, had a permit for the gun he used in the rampage, but had done no work that required such a permit for the past decade, Channel 2 news reported.

Alon had served in the IDF, receiving a citation for his role in preventing a terrorist attack in the city during the Second Intifada, then in the Border Police, and subsequently as a security officer for Beersheba educational institutions. But he had not worked in security for years, and was unemployed. "There was no reason for him to have been allowed to retain his gun permit," Channel 2 reported, quoting police sources.

Former police commissioner Moshe Karadi said Monday night that the bank killings marked one of the worst incidents of its kind in decades, but that the police are encountering a relentless rise in violent crime, and have been working for years to reduce the number of gun permits. Police sources quoted by Channel 2 said this effort would now intensify under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Security, which is in charge of both the police force and the licensing of civilian firearms, with Monday's killings serving to underline the imperative.

Extensive screening is required of those applying for gun permits, including a police background check and a medical form to be signed by a physician.

The Times of Israel reports, "The form consists of 24 questions, ranging from a patient's physical health to his or her history of substance abuse and psychiatric care. Some 170,000 Israeli citizens are licensed to carry a weapon; of these, 40,000 are security guards who work in supermarkets, malls and schools."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the shooting was a "tragedy." Though Israel has extensive experience with Palestinian terrorist attacks, the kind of mass shooting that occurred in the bank is rare. According to Israel Radio, Netanyahu said he "doesn't remember an incident like this, certainly not in the last few years."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-man-years-ago-helped-stop-terror-attack-113021459.html

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John Cena injury update

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

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Senate to debate crop insurance in farm bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate is debating cuts to the federally subsidized crop insurance program as it considers a massive farm bill this week.

The Obama administration said Monday it wants to see more cuts to crop insurance and farm subsidies in the legislation, which would cost almost $100 billion a year over five years and would set policy for farm programs and food aid.

The bill would cut about $2.4 billion annually from overall farm spending. But it would still expand federally subsidized crop insurance and raise some subsidies for rice and peanut farmers. The White House did not specify how large a cut it was seeking.

Almost $80 billion of the annual cost of the bill is for domestic food aid, with most of the rest of the money split between farm subsidies, federal help for crop insurance and programs to protect environmentally sensitive land.

The government spent an estimated $15.8 billion on the program for the 2012 crop year after a drought destroyed many crops, up from $9.4 billion in 2011. The government subsidizes about 62 percent of farmers' insurance premiums and also subsidizes the insurance companies that sell the policies. The cost of the program has risen in recent years because of bad weather events and record-high crop prices.

The Senate began debating the bill Monday, with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., saying she expected several amendments to be offered on the crop insurance program. Stabenow and other farm-state senators have argued that crop insurance should be maintained and even expanded because it protects farmers when they need it most and because farmers contribute some of their own money to the program.

Critics say federal contributions to crop insurance are too generous and subsidize big agricultural businesses.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., offered the first crop insurance amendment Monday, proposing an end to $33 million a year in insurance policies for tobacco farmers. A buyout for tobacco farmers enacted nine years ago is phasing out government payments to tobacco farmers, but many of them still receive crop insurance.

"It turns out Joe Camel's nose has been under the tent this whole time in terms of crop insurance subsidies," McCain said, referring to a character that used to appear on packs of Camel cigarettes.

Cuts to the food stamp program are also expected to be a contentious issue on the Senate floor.

The administration statement did not say whether President Barack Obama supports $400 million in annual cuts to the food stamp program contained in the Senate bill. The statement said it supports the food stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but did not specifically mention the cuts.

The Obama administration has been stronger in opposing cuts to SNAP in the House farm bill, which are about five times as much as the cuts in the Senate bill.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday he was "deeply concerned" about the House food stamp cuts, which he said would "deny struggling families and their children access to food assistance."

Though Senate Democrats have generally opposed cutting food stamps, Stabenow included the small cuts in the Senate version of the bill to try to appease House Republicans who say the program is too expensive.

The legislation approved by the House Agriculture Committee last week would cut about $2.5 billion a year, or a little more than 3 percent, from SNAP, which is used by 1 in 7 Americans.

The House legislation would achieve the cuts partly by eliminating what is called categorical eligibility, or giving people automatic food stamp benefits when they sign up for certain other programs. It also would save dollars by targeting states that give people who don't have heating bills very small amounts of heating assistance so they can automatically qualify for higher food stamp benefits.

The Senate bill, also approved in committee last week, saves money in the food stamp program only by targeting the heating assistance dollars.

While calling for deeper cuts to subsidies, the White House also called for Congress to maintain the strong safety net farmers have now. Current farm programs expire Sept. 30.

"It is critical that the Congress pass legislation that provides certainty for rural America and includes needed reforms and savings," the White House said.

The Senate passed a similar bill last year, but the House did not consider it.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-21-US-Farm-Bill/id-7f6381555a964fa68c9a194d6b2b8df1

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Obama Offers Support and Federal Aid to Tornado Victims (ABC News)

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Power of Moore tornado dwarfs Hiroshima bomb

In this Tuesday, May 21, 2013 aerial photo, emergency responders make their way down a street of damaged homes following Monday's tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Kim Johnson Flodin)

In this Tuesday, May 21, 2013 aerial photo, emergency responders make their way down a street of damaged homes following Monday's tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Kim Johnson Flodin)

This aerial photo shows the remains of houses in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/Steve Gooch)

Storm clouds build in the distance beyond tornado-ravaged homes Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The rubble of a destroyed neighborhood is strewn about a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Many homes were stripped to their foundations Monday by a tornado which moved through the area. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

An aerial view of an entire neighborhood destroyed by Monday's tornado is shown Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Everything had to come together just perfectly to create the killer tornado in Moore, Okla.: wind speed, moisture in the air, temperature and timing. And when they did, the awesome energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service gave it the top-of-the-scale rating of EF5 for wind speed and breadth, and severity of damage. Wind speeds were estimated at between 200 and 210 mph. The death count is 24 so far, including at least nine children. The United States averages about one EF5 a year, but this was the first in nearly two years.

To get such an uncommon storm to form is "a bit of a Goldilocks problem," said Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor Paul Markowski. "Everything has to be just right."

For example, there must be humidity for a tornado to form, but too much can cut the storm off. The same goes with the cold air in a downdraft: Too much can be a storm-killer.

But when the ideal conditions do occur, watch out. The power of nature beats out anything man can create.

"Everything was ready for explosive development yesterday," said Colorado State University meteorology professor Russ Schumacher, who was in Oklahoma launching airborne devices that measured the energy, moisture and wind speeds on Monday. "It all just unleashed on that one area."

Several meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements, some made by Schumacher, to calculate the energy released during the storm's 40-minute life span. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, with more experts at the high end. Their calculations were based on energy measured in the air and then multiplied over the size and duration of the storm.

An EF5 tornado has the most violent winds on Earth, more powerful than a hurricane. The strongest winds ever measured were the 302 mph reading, measured by radar, during the EF5 tornado that struck Moore on May 3, 1999, according to Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the Weather Underground.

Still, when it comes to weather events, scientists usually know more about and can better predict hurricanes, winter storms, heat waves and other big events.

That's because even though a tornado like the one that struck Moore was 1.3 miles wide, with a path of 17 miles long, in meteorological terms it was small, hard to track, rare and even harder to study. So tornadoes are still more of a mystery than their hurricane cousins, even though tropical storms form over ocean areas where no one is, while this tornado formed only miles from the very National Weather Service office that specializes in tornadoes.

"This phenomenon can be so deadly you would think that something that catastrophic, that severe would lend itself to understanding," said Adam Houston, meteorology professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. "But we're fighting the inherent unpredictability of these small-scale phenomena."

Unlike hurricanes, which forecasters can fly through in planes and monitor with buoys and weather stations, usually over a period of days, tornadoes form quickly and normally last only a matter of minutes. While meteorologists and television hosts chase tornadoes and try to get readings, it's not usually enough. This storm lasted 40 minutes ? long for a regular tornado but not too unusual for such a violent one, said research meteorologist Harold Brooks at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

Still, the conditions needed to form such a violent and devastating tornado were there and forecasters knew it, warning five days in advance that something big could happen, Brooks said.

By Monday morning, forecasters at the National Weather Center, home of the storm lab and storm prediction center, knew "that any storm that formed in that environment had the potential to be a strong to violent tornado," he said.

"This is a pretty classic setup," Brooks said.

Tornadoes have two main ingredients: moist energy in the atmosphere and wind shear. Wind shear is the difference between wind at high altitudes and wind near the surface. The more moist energy and the greater the wind shear, the better the chances for tornadoes.

But just because the conditions are right doesn't mean a violent tornado will form, and scientists still don't know why they occur in certain spots in a storm and not others, and why at certain times and not others.

On Monday, the moist energy came up from the Gulf of Mexico, the wind shear from the jet stream plunging from Canada. "Where they met is where the Moore storm got started," Brooks said.

With the third strong storm hitting Moore in 14 years ? and following roughly the same path as an EF5 that killed 40 people in 1999 and an EF4 that injured 45 others in 2003 ? some people are wondering why Moore?

It's a combination of geography, meteorology and lots of bad luck, experts said.

If you look at the climate history of tornadoes in May, you will see they cluster in a spot, maybe 100 miles wide, in central Oklahoma, Houston said. That's where the weather conditions of warm, moist air and strong wind shear needed for tornadoes combine, in just the right balance.

"Central Oklahoma is a hot spot and there's a good reason for it," Houston said. "There's this perfect combination where the jet stream is strong, the instability is large and the typical position for this juxtaposition climatologically is central Oklahoma."

And the timing has to be perfect. Earlier in the year, there's not enough warm moist air, but the jet stream is stronger. Later, the jet stream is weaker but the air is moister and warmer.

The hot spot is more than just the city of Moore. Several meteorologists offer the same explanation for why that Oklahoma City suburb seemed to be hit repeatedly by violent tornadoes: Bad luck.

Of the 60 EF5 tornadoes since 1950, Oklahoma and Alabama have been struck the most, seven times each. More than half of these top-of-the-scale twisters are in just five states: Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Kansas, and Iowa. Less than 1 percent of all U .S. tornadoes are this violent ? only about 10 a year, Brooks said.

The United States' Great Plains is the "best place on Earth" for the formation of violent tornadoes because of geography, Markowski said. You need the low pressure systems coming down off the Rocky Mountains colliding with the warm moist unstable air coming north from the Gulf of Mexico.

Scientists know the key ingredients that go into a devastating tornado. But they are struggling to figure out why they develop in some big storms and not others. They also are still trying to determine what effects, if any, global warming has on tornadoes. The jet stream can shift to cause a record number of tornadoes ? or an unusually low number of them.

Early research, much of it by Brooks, predicts that as the world warms, the moist energy ? or instability ? will increase, and the U.S. will have more thunderstorms. But at the same time, the needed wind shear ? the difference between wind speed and direction at different altitudes ? will likely decrease.

The two factors go in different directions and it's hard to tell which will win out. Brooks and others think that eventually there may be more thunderstorms and fewer days with tornadoes, but more tornadoes on those days when twisters do strike.

"Tornadoes are perhaps the most difficult things to connect to climate change of any extreme," said NASA climate scientist Tony Del Genio. "Because we still don't understand all the factors required to get a tornado."

___

Online

The National Weather Center; http://www.nwc.ou.edu/

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-05-21-Oklahoma%20Tornado-Science/id-e83a8c948f4e494c83013526dd1757ab

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NOW Personal Training Full Body Fitness - Ellwood Thompson's

When

DATE CHANGE: ?Thursday, May 30th ?/ ?7:15-8:15AM

Location

Ellwood?s Community Classroom

Instructor

Josh Baldwin,?ACT Certified Personal Trainer

NOW Personal Training?is my fitness and weight loss company located in Midlothian VA and serving all of Richmond VA. I focus on 1 on 1 training primarily, but I also train couples and large groups. I?m focused on the health of my clients primarily and keeping them looking great. My goal is to enhance client?s lives through fitness training and proper meal plans.

Description

Classes will be focused on high intensity interval training with exercises ranging from Plyometrics, Boxing, Free Weights and other explosive routines. My main goal is to make sure you get a great work out and have fun doing it. With every session we?ll mix up the routines with new exercises to keep your body guessing and keep you sweating! I will also be available before, during and after class to answer any questions regarding nutrition and help with building proper meal plans customized for you.

Cost

$10.00

Capacity

30

Register for class

There is limited seating/availability for all classes and events and you must register ahead of time.

Questions?

Call the customer service desk at 804-359-7525.

Source: http://ellwoodthompsons.com/now-personal-training-full-body-fitness/

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When does a broken heart become a mental disorder? | EAPC Blog

Thomas Attig, Inge B Corless, Kathleen R. Gilbert, Dale G Larson, Mal McKissock,?David Roth, Donna Schuurman, Phyllis R Silverman and J William Worden are members of a workgroup who produced this statement at the meeting of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement in Victoria, British Columbia on April 28-May 3, 2013.

When does a broken heart become a mental disorder? Rarely, if ever.

But don?t tell that to the American Psychiatric Association, which has just released its fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM is a catalogue of mental disorders, hundreds of them, each trailing a listing of symptoms. The manual informs selection of a diagnosis, which is required by US insurance companies for reimbursement for mental health care.

There?s a major change in the newest version, DSM-5, with serious implications for the millions of people who are coping with the death of a child, spouse, parent, friend, or other loved one.

But first, a quick glimpse at the history of this publication, often referred to as the bible of psychiatry. The very first edition, published in 1952, didn?t even refer to grief, considering it an accepted and normal reaction to the death of a loved one. The third edition added an exclusion statement under Major Depressive Disorder, referred to as the ?bereavement exclusion.? Under this exclusion, a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder could not be made for a full year after a death. They recognized that normal and common reactions to the death of a loved one could look like symptoms of depressive disorder, for example, sadness, disturbed sleep, lack of concentration, changes in eating, and loss of interest in things that were once pleasurable.

In 1994, the 4^th version of the DSM reduced the bereavement exclusion to two months after a death, and this new version removes the bereavement exclusion completely, meaning in effect that anyone can receive a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder two weeks after the death of a child, parent, spouse, friend, or anyone.

Why does this matter? For at least three reasons:

First, normal reactions to the death of a loved one will be easily misclassified as the mental disorder depression. Grief is not the same experience as major depressive disorder. It is not an illness to be treated or cured. It is a healthy response to a painful reality that one?s world is forever altered, and will never be the same. Absorbing this loss, and adapting to all the changes it unleashes, has its own unique course for every person, and will not be stilled or stopped by quick fixes or simple solutions. Death is a life-altering event, but grief is not a pathological condition.

Second, antidepressants are commonly and frequently prescribed. There is a strong likelihood that newly bereaved people will qualify for a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder just two weeks after a death even though their reactions are normal. ?Antidepressants have not been shown to be helpful with grief-related depressive symptoms, and there is accumulating evidence of long-term negative effects of being on antidepressants. We need to ask why psychiatry is pathologizing grief and therefore making inappropriate pharmacological treatment easier. And we should not overlook the self-interest of pharmaceutical companies who see a new and substantial market for antidepressants, currently a multi-billion dollar industry.

Third, about 80% of prescriptions for antidepressants are written by primary care physicians, not psychiatrists. We have the expectation that physicians, as well as psychologists, social workers, and clergy, to whom many of us turn for help after losses of all kinds, have professional training, solid research backing, and supervised experience to guide them. Some do, but in fact, a considerable majority of practitioners with these degrees have no professional training at all in responding to the bereaved.

The caution here? ?Be wary of physicians or other medical professionals who rush to prescribe antidepressants to address your grief.

Here?s a better prescription: Mourn the death of your loved one in your own way. There is no prescribed formula. You may cry; you may not. Your reactions will be shaped by many things: the relationship you had with the deceased, your personality style, and the support or lack of support you receive from others. Push aside those who tell you to move on, that every cloud has a silver lining. What one person finds comforting might not work for another. Find friends and family who understand, and with whom you can share your experience. If they won?t listen or help, or if their help is not enough, search for support groups through your local hospital, hospice or community organizations. Don?t be afraid to seek professional help, but if you do, ask about the person?s training, qualifications, and experience with grief, loss, and bereavement.

We grieve as deeply as we love. We can get off track with love, and we can respond to our grief in ways that aren?t healthy, or don?t serve us well. But let?s not make love, or grief, a mental disorder.

An invitation from the authors?
This document was written by a group of concerned professionals in response to the release of the American Psychiatric Association?s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). You have full permission to translate the document into other languages, and to distribute it via websites, blogs, the media, and other venues. It is our intention that the message be shared widely.

Click here for more about the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement.?The group welcomes your comments, either via the blog or by email.

Acknowledgement
The EAPC acknowledges permission to reproduce the above statement.

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Source: http://eapcnet.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/when-does-a-broken-heart-become-a-mental-disorder/

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'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Take Over Times Square

The Michael Bay-produced reboot of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise has been filming in New York City for a few weeks now, and turtles sightings—or sighting of actors in awkward motion capture suits—have become more and more frequent. MTV News got word that Megan Fox, this version's April O'Neil, was filming a scene just [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/05/20/ninja-turtles-set-photos-times-square/

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Health News - Study identifies new approach to improving treatment ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) ? Working with lab mice models of multiple sclerosis (MS), UC Davis scientists have detected a novel molecular target for the design of drugs that could be safer and more effective than current FDA-approved medications against MS.

The findings of the research study, published online today in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine could have therapeutic applications for MS as well as cerebral palsy and leukodystrophies, all disorders associated with loss of white matter, which is the brain tissue that carries information between nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

The target, a protein referred to as mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO), had been previously identified but not linked to MS, an autoimmune disease that strips the protective fatty coating off nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord. The mitrochronical TSPO is located on the outer surface of mitochondria, cellular structures that supply energy to the cells. Damage to the fatty coating, or myelin, slows the transmission of the nerve signals that enable body movement as well as sensory and cognitive functioning.

The scientists identified mitochondrial TSPO as a potential therapeutic target when mice that had symptoms of MS improved after being treated with the anti-anxiety drug etifoxine, which interacts with mitochondrial TSPO. When etifoxine, a drug clinically available in Europe, was administered to the MS mice before they had clinical signs of disease, the severity of the disease was reduced when compared to the untreated lab animals. When treated at the peak of disease severity, the animals? MS symptoms improved.

?Etifoxine has a novel protective effect against the loss of the sheath that insulates the nerve fibers that transmit the signals from brain cells,? said Wenbin Deng, principal investigator of the study and associate professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine at UC Davis.

?Our discovery of etifoxine's effects on an MS animal model suggests that mitochondrial TSPO represents a potential therapeutic target for MS drug development,? said Deng.

?Drugs designed to more precisely bind to mitochondrial TSPO may help repair the myelin sheath of MS patients and thereby even help restore the transmission of signals in the central nervous system that enable normal motor, sensory and cognitive functions,? he said.

Deng added that better treatments for MS and other demyelinating diseases are needed, especially since current FDA-approved therapies do not repair the damage of immune attacks on the myelin sheath.?

The UC Davis research team hopes to further investigate the therapeutic applications of mitochondrial TSPO in drug development for MS and other autoimmune diseases. To identify more efficacious and safer drug candidates, they plan to pursue research grants that will enable them to test a variety of pharmacological compounds that bind to mitochondrial TSPO and other molecular targets in experimental models of MS and other myelin diseases.

The journal paper is entitled, ?A TSPO ligand is protective in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.?

In addition to Wenbin Deng, co-authors of the paper are Daniel J. Daugherty, Vimal Selvaraj, Olga V. Chechneva, Xiao-Bo Liu and David E. Pleasure.

The study was in part supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Feldstein Medical Foundation and ShrinersHospitals for Children. NIH grant numbers R01 NS059043 and R01 ES015988.

UC Davis Health System is improving lives and transforming health care by providing excellent patient care, conducting groundbreaking research, fostering innovative, interprofessional education, and creating dynamic, productive partnerships with the community. The academic health system includes one of the country's best medical schools, a 619-bed acute-care teaching hospital, a 1000-member physician's practice group and the new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. It is home to a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, an international neurodevelopmental institute, a stem cell institute and a comprehensive children's hospital. Other nationally prominent centers focus on advancing telemedicine, improving vascular care, eliminating health disparities and translating research findings into new treatments for patients. Together, they make UC Davis a hub of innovation that is transforming health for all. For more information, visit healthsystem.ucdavis.edu.

Source: http://www.healthcanal.com/medical-breakthroughs/38798-study-identifies-new-approach-to-improving-treatment-for-ms-and-other-conditions.html

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Benefits Of Searching Free Health Insurance Quotes Online ? Hot ...

The most important thing in human life is being healthy. Moist of people have fallen ill since there are several diseases now days and they have decided to look for ways of solving these problems since sometimes they fall sick when they do not have cash in their pocket. There are companies that deal with services of covering hospital bills. People can get free health insurance quotes online by searching on the internet through the computer.

Those who will be searching these services form the internet will have several advantages whereby they will have a chance to select for the varieties since many companies have advertised their services on the internet. They will also be able to choose the cheapest insurance company and thy will save their money. There are those people that have already fallen ill thus they will not walk long distances searching for companies that offer these services.

Getting these services form internet will save time for the buyer since they are not the one to deliver thus they not get tired. Most of the charges depend on the health status of the person and many people who are seriously ill have feared applying for these services since the charges will be high. They keep on looking for affordable companies but all in vain.

The internet marketing has solved these problems for those who are planning to apply for these services. Individuals can go extend of applying these services in many companies without fear since there is privacy. They will also find access this information faster since they apply by filling one form but the results will be from several companies thus selecting the affordable one.

People should search for several web sites before they select the best company that will offer them these services at fewer amounts. They should also select the companies that included all their details in the text. They should consider the experience period of the company such that they do not choose unstable company.

These companies have different requirements and they offer these services at different amounts. They have also different rules thus individuals should make sure that they understand these rules before they choose the suitable company. There are guidelines on the internet on how to apply these services thus one will not waste time to go to the company to apply or look for specialist to assist.

Individual should be keen when selecting the policies. They must understand the rules first. They should select the policy that will save their time and money.

Those who are interested in these services should not walk long distances sine there are free health insurance quotes online. They need to type what they are searching and they results will be displayed. The brokers can also help individuals to select companies that provide quality services.

When there is a need to get details on insurance service, you can view the related page for more info. Check out the official site about health insurance now.

Source: http://hotarticledepot.com/benefits-of-searching-free-health-insurance-quotes-online-3/

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How Einstein's theory of special relativity helped find a new planet (+video)

To find the planet, astronomers used Einstein's theory as it pertains to the intensity of a beam of light. The method could add more exoplanets to a growing list, no 'wobble' or 'transit' required.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / May 14, 2013

Kepler space telescope is designed to search for Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy. The telescope has been in space since 2009, but scientists keep finding new ways to use it ? even using special relativity ? to find extra-solar planets.

Courtesy of NASA / AP

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With a little help from Einstein's theory of special relativity, astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting a star some 2,000 light-years away using a new approach that was barely a gleam in its proposers' eyes a decade ago.

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The planet is a bit larger and about twice as massive as Jupiter. It orbits its sun-like star once every 1.5 days. The team making the discovery estimates the planet's temperature at a searing 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

On one level, such "hot Jupiters" are a dime a dozen these days. Because they are massive and close to their host stars, they are the easiest planets to spot with virtually every planet-hunting technique astronomers have used to date.

What sets this discovery apart, however, is that the planet is the first to have been found through a process that in some ways could simplify planet hunting, researchers say. Its effectiveness is limited to big planets orbiting close to their stars, the team reporting the discovery acknowledges.

But it also holds out the hope of finding such planets when the parent stars may be too faint for other, currently used techniques. This opens the possibility of adding many more extra-solar planets to a catalog that now tops 800 of them.

No need to hunt for the wobble a planet's gravity imparts to its star's spectrum. No need to wait for a planet to pass in front of its star, known as a transit.

Instead, the team looked for a combination of three relatively small effects that wax and wane throughout a planet's orbit around a star. This delivers a different signal to a planet-hunting device like NASA's Kepler spacecraft than the eclipsing planet, or transit method, delivers, notes David Latham, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a member of the team discovering the planet.

"The transits last just a short time, just a couple of hours," Dr. Latham writes in an e-mail. But the effects the team tracked "rise and fall continuously through the entire orbital period of the planet, roughly 36 hours, so it?s not hard to distinguish these phenomena."

And it can detect planets that don't transit their stars.

The approach was conceived 10 years ago by Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb and Scott Gaudi, now an assistant professor of astronomy at The Ohio State University in Columbus, who took a cue from Albert Einstein.

One prediction of Einstein's theory of special relativity is that when an object is moving at a pace close to the speed of light, any light it emits appears more intense along the object's line of motion, forming a beam. To an observer watching the object approach, the light looks brighter than it would if the object were stationary.

The effect is most pronounced in powerful astronomical events such as gamma-ray bursts, in which matter emitting the gamma rays is accelerated to 99.9 percent of the speed of light, Dr. Loeb explains.

Indeed, to an astronomer looking directly into the beam, the effect can lead to the illusion that the light is traveling faster than its 186,000-mile a second speed limit. Such beams emanate from the poles of supermassive black holes that have gone on feeding binges. Researchers call them superluminal jets.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/bF2TBtyKJE8/How-Einstein-s-theory-of-special-relativity-helped-find-a-new-planet-video

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Sony to name Chugai Pharma's CEO as chairman: Nikkei

MADRID, May 16 (Reuters) - Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos put in an assured performance in front of the cameras after coach Jose Mourinho failed to appear in Thursday's news conference ahead of the King's Cup final. Better known for his tough tackles, powerful heading ability and nerves of steel when taking penalties, the 27-year-old Spain international appeared in the conference room to represent the club and deftly handled a string of awkward questions. "If I am here it is for a reason. I can also answer questions just like the boss," Ramos said. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sony-name-chugai-pharmas-ceo-chairman-nikkei-190022820.html

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ECB eyes supervisor role to squeeze weak banks

By John O'Donnell

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank could use its new supervisory role from next year to single out weak banks and make it harder for them to get its financial support, people familiar with the matter say.

Such a hardening of approach would keep ECB funding flowing to Europe's most important lenders but compel laggards to beef up their capital buffers, prod national central banks to take on the problem or even force some banks to go to the wall.

The thinking denotes a growing concern at the ECB, which bankrolls much of the financial system, about the risks of backing banks with often only weak collateral as security.

It follows an unprecedented public threat by the euro zone's central bank to cut emergency financing to Cypriot banks, in the middle of the Mediterranean island's crisis which led to the closure of one as part of a stringent bailout.

"Central banks provide liquidity against collateral. But what do you do for addicted banks?" said one person familiar with ECB thinking.

"If a bank returns continuously to get liquidity, (the ECB) will make it more difficult. You will have to pay a higher price. You will have to change the rules for provision of liquidity."

The ECB declined to comment. It gave 1 trillion euros of cheap three-year loans to banks last year and has offered further unlimited support since.

The possible use of such tactics is also a response to the constraints the ECB may face when it takes on bank supervision next year. German opposition could mean there is no separate agency to close problem banks although it is unclear if the ECB would accept this and take on supervision nonetheless.

THREADBARE COVER

Currently, the ECB relies on national regulators for information about banks that borrow from it but that will change when it takes over as overarching regulator next year.

Once it has this power, the ECB could use its knowledge to identify banks with threadbare capital, demand they beef up this cushion or face expulsion from its financing operations, said another person familiar with the new supervision scheme.

Such a move could effectively close a bank, putting a question mark over the notion that there will be a strict division between ECB's role as supervisor and as guardian of monetary policy.

"The supervisor can say this bank's collateral is not of the required standard and that it needs more capital," said that person, adding that a bank could be disqualified from ECB finance if it did not recapitalize within months.

Such a step would not erode wider support for the banking sector but would mark a shift to a more targeted approach, focusing help on those strong enough to thrive.

"Being supervisor allows the ECB to discriminate between zombie banks and those that are sound and make sure that its lending targets those banks that lend to the economy - not to the zombies," said Daniel Gros of think tank, the Centre for European Policy Studies.

Many at the ECB are concerned about the problems lurking in banks, which have piled up billions of euros of bad loans during years of runaway lending.

And yet the necessity to support the sector has led to a loosening of collateral rules which means that banks are often allowed to borrow with second-rate security - sometimes as little as a car loan.

This leaves the ECB with threadbare cover should any sizeable chunk of the almost 850 billion euros it has lent not be repaid.

As it stands, any euro zone bank that has the collateral required qualifies to borrow from the ECB. But this could change if it were to penalize certain banks, by charging them more.

The move would reinforce the ECB's stamp of authority as supervisor, the first step to creating a banking union or system for policing, controlling and supporting banks in the euro zone.

In its new role, the ECB may have to slug it out with national regulators over whether troubled banks should be kept alive. By choking off liquidity, it can avoid a protracted political tangle and shut the bank or force national central banks to shoulder the burden of financing it.

(Additional reporting by Paul Carrel and Annika Breidthardt. Editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ecb-eyes-supervisor-role-squeeze-weak-banks-061248991.html

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Harper says household debt not his biggest worry

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canada's soaring consumer debt is backed by solid assets, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday, saying he was more worried about economic problems outside the country.

Canadian households now owe C$1.65 for every dollar earned, a record level that has raised alarm among policymakers. Much of the debt is in mortgages as consumers take advantage of nearly five years of low interest rates to buy homes.

But when asked about the biggest risks to Canada, Harper said they were external. "That's what keeps me up at night," he replied in a question and answer session at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York.

Harper followed by citing the growth of household credit in Canada.

"The assets behind it I think still speak to the fact that it's well supported," he said. "Financial institutions ... are the most solid in the world, but household debt has risen."

Harper said tighter rules to curb the mortgage lending and cool the housing market have had a "noticeable impact."

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have repeatedly warned consumers about the dangers of excessive borrowing. Recent reports show the personal debt burden is stabilizing and the housing sector has cooled since the latest mortgage measures in mid-2012.

Data this week bolstered hopes Canada will manage a soft landing of its hot housing market rather than a U.S.-style housing crash.

(The story corrects 4th paragraph to say "followed," instead of "following")

(Reporting by David Sheppard; writing by Louise Egan; editing by Janet Guttsman Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/harper-says-household-debt-not-biggest-worry-191643714.html

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Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Holder defends subpoenas for AP telephone records

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress Wednesday that a serious national security leak required the secret gathering of telephone records at The Associated Press as he stood by an investigation in which he insisted he had no involvement.

Pestered by Republicans and some Democrats, Holder testified that he has faith in the individuals conducting the broad investigation, driven in large part by GOP outrage last year over the possibility that administration officials leaked information to enhance President Barack Obama's national security reputation in an election year.

Holder said he had recused himself from the case because "I am a possessor of information eventually leaked." He said he was unable to answer questions on the subpoenas and why the Justice Department failed to negotiate with the AP prior to the subpoenas, a standard practice.

That elicited frustration from some committee members with the Obama administration and the attorney general.

"There doesn't appear to be any acceptance of responsibility for things that have gone wrong," Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told Holder. He suggested that administration officials travel to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and take a photo of the famous sign, "the buck stops here."

It was the Justice Department's No. 2 official, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, who made the decision to seek news media phone records, Holder said.

Last year, Holder appointed two U.S. attorneys to lead a Justice inquiry into who leaked information about U.S. involvement in cyber-attacks on Iran and an al-Qaida plot to place an explosive device aboard a U.S.-bound flight. Holder had resisted calls for a special counsel, telling lawmakers that the two attorneys, Ron Machen and Rod Rosenstein, are experienced, independent and thorough.

Holder was grilled on several scandals rocking the administration, including the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service and any missteps in sharing intelligence information prior to the bombings in Boston.

Responding to news of the gathering of AP records, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., planned to revive a 2009 media shield bill that protects journalists and their employers from having to reveal information, including the identity of sources who had been promised confidentiality.

The law does contain some exceptions in instances of national security.

"This kind of law would balance national security needs against the public's right to the free flow of information," Schumer said in a statement. "At minimum, our bill would have ensured a fairer, more deliberate process in this case."

The White House threw its support behind the legislation, said a White House official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the topic and demanded anonymity. Ed Pagano, President Barack Obama's liaison to the Senate, placed a call Wednesday morning to Schumer's office to ask him to revive the bill, a move the senator had planned to make.

Obama's support for the bill signaled an effort by the White House to show action in the face of heated criticism from lawmakers from both parties and news organizations about his commitment to protecting civil liberties and freedom of the press.

White House officials have said they are unable to comment publicly on the incident at the heart of the controversy because the Justice Department's leak probe essentially amounts to a criminal investigation of administration officials.

Holder on Tuesday defended the move to collect AP phone records in an effort to hunt down the sources of information for a May 7, 2012, AP story that disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen to stop an airliner bombing plot around the anniversary of the killing of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. The attorney general called the story the result of "a very serious leak, a very grave leak."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence committee, said Wednesday that the leak was "within the most serious leaks because it definitely endangered some lives."

Feinstein said it was her understanding that the information gathering did not focus on the "content of phone calls," but rather "to see who reporters have spoken to, that somebody did provide this information with respect to this bomb."

At a news conference Tuesday, Holder defended the subpoenas to the AP and disclosed that the department was investigating the IRS for giving tea party groups extra scrutiny when they applied for tax exempt status.

Documents obtained by the AP suggest the targeting of conservative groups could be more widespread than the IRS has acknowledged. The agency has said it was limited to low-level workers in a Cincinnati office.

At Tuesday's news conference, Holder said the U.S. has gotten good cooperation from the Russians on the Boston bombings investigation. U.S. law enforcement officials are trying to determine whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev was indoctrinated or trained by militants during his visit to Dagestan, a Caspian Sea province of Russia that has become the center of a simmering Islamic insurgency.

___

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman, Erica Werner and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/holder-defends-subpoenas-ap-telephone-records-183112739.html

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Only the Yankees

Every now and again ? well, let?s face it, pretty much every day now ? I get another email telling me that Vernon Wells ? Vernon Bleepin? Wells ? just got another two hits with another homer with another three RBIs and so on.

The emails are from Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation executive producer, and the emails have a purpose: Michael is convinced that it is time that I just admit that I am wrong, and he is right about the New York Yankees being a magical species, not unlike house elves. He is fairly enraged that I will not just admit defeat. I picked the Yankees to collapse under their own weight this year. He thinks I?m a flat-earther who will not face the obvious truth ? that the Yankees will always, continuously, endlessly, constantly, incessantly and unceasingly win forever and ever, amen. He thinks it is way past time for me to admit it doesn?t really matter who is actually ON the Yankees ? doesn?t matter if every single baseball player on earth gets hurt and they are forced to have Shecky Greene hit second and play centerfield. In this case, Mike is convinced that Shecky Greene would hit .289 with 24 homers and win a Gold Glove.

His latest evidence for this Yankees sorcery is, of course, Vernon Wells, who at this moment for the Yankees is hitting .299/.349/.526 with nine homers ? he?s ninth in the American League in home runs per at-bat after a career of never once being in the Top 10 in that category. He is roughly on pace for 100 runs and 100 RBIs, something he did only once, a long time ago, when he was 24 and full of promise.

Vernon Wells, the last two seasons, made a compelling a case for being the worst semi-regular player in baseball. I don?t think it was quite a winning case ? it seems to me there are probably a half dozen players like Adam Dunn and the ever popular Yuniesky Betancourt* who were worse ? but the point is he was in the discussion.

*Four times this year ? FOUR TIMES THIS YEAR ? the Milwaukee Brewers have hit Yuniesky Betancourt in their cleanup spot. There ? um ? you know ? it seems ? but ? the thing ? I?m sorry, the mind?s spluttering, I can?t even come up with a joke for this.

How bad was Wells? Well, usually you can?t define someone by a single number but Wells? on-base percentage in 2011 and 2012 was .258. That is not just bad. That is legendarily bad. At the very core of offensive baseball is the game?s golden rule ?Do not make outs.? Vernon Wells has been one of the great transgressors in baseball history.

Adding to the Wellsian knot was the seven-year, $126 million deal Toronto gave him beginning in 2008. Wells was a pretty good player in 2008, but he was also 29 years old and he only played 108 games. Bad signs sparked like fireworks. But by then the deal was signed and it was too late. He was fairly dreadful in 2009, a good player in 2010, and then the roof caved in, but not before Toronto managed to unload him on the Angels, who seem desperate to corner the market on terrible contracts. You can almost imagine an Angels-inspired movie, sort of the anti-Moneyball, with Bruce McGill as a GM shouting, ?How in the heck did Philadelphia beat us on this terrible Ryan Howard contract? Were you guys even paying attention? Was the bank closed that day??

Wells hit 25 homers for the Angels in 2011 but posted an astounding .248 on-base percentage, which was the lowest for a corner outfielder since the legendary George Barclay, nicknamed Deerfoot, posted a .241 OBP in 1904. Wells only played 77 games in 2012, hit about the same in those games, and then then Angels were so desperate to get rid of him they gave him to the Yankees and agreed to pay about 70% of his remaining contract.

It should be added that the Yankees were so injured and desperate, that they took Wells and agreed to pay 30% of his remaining salary, which still comes out to $13 million, which still would be a huge overpay for the Vernon Wells of the last two seasons.

But, Michael ? a huge Red Sox fan who has watched such Yankees miracles from a front row seat ? immediately predicted that Wells would end up having a really good year. His prediction was not based on Wells looking good in spring or being in the best shape of his life or anything like that. It was simple math. The Angels are in that low funk where everything they do is just kind of stupid. And the Yankees, of course, are magical.

And it seems that Michael, despite what seem to me obvious flaws in his thought process, is right again.

Not that he ever doubted it. Michael now includes a list of players in his Vernon Wells emails. You look at this list and decide:

1. Shawn Chacon. He was a generally struggling pitcher for the Rockies who in 2004 had gone 1-9 with a 7.11 ERA. The league slugged .500 against him that year. In July of 2005, the Yankees ? who hovered only a few games over .500 and in second or third place all year and were desperate for starting pitching ? traded for Chacon. His first start, he threw six innings of shutout baseball. His first seven appearances, the Yankees won six of them. They were battling for first place. And in mid September, Chacon threw back-to-back starts of eight innings, zero runs, as the Yankees overtook first place and, eventually, won 95 games. The league hit .225 and slugged .348 against Chacon with the Yankees.

The next year, Chacon returned to being? generally struggling pitcher.

2. Aaron Small. A Michael Schur favorite. He was 33 years old and in that same year, 2005, and he had started all of three games in his big league career. He started nine games for the Yankees and the Yankees won eight of them. In September that year, he threw a five-hit shutout against Oakland and came in against Toronto in the second inning and threw 6 2/3 shutout innings. His record, that year, was 10-0.

The next year, he pitched 11 games with an 8.46 ERA and did not pitch another big league game.

3. Raul Ibanez. One of my favorite people in the game, Raul has had a nice career, but he was 40 years old his one year with the Yankees. He hit 19 homers in 384 at-bats. But veterans will sometimes do that, you know, swing for the fences and give a team a few home runs. What made Ibanez magical was the time. In October he was like a walking miracle. Against the Red Sox on Oct. 2, with the Yankees in a huge fight for their postseason lives, Ibanez hit a two-run homer to tie Boston in the ninth then hit a walk-off RBI single to win it in the 12th.

A week later, in the ALDS against Baltimore, he pinch-hit for A-Rod in the bottom of the ninth with the Yankees down one and hit the game-tying homer. Leading off the 12th, he homered again to win it.

Three days later, with the Yankees losing to Detroit by two in the ninth, he homered again to tie the score..

For about 10 days, Raul Ibanez was Roy Hobbs. ?Could this have happened on any other team but the Yankees?? Michael asks.

4. Eric Chavez. He was a terrific player as a young man, but once the injuries started it seemed like they would never end. After winning six Gold Gloves and hitting 227 homers before he turned 30, Chavez did indeed turn 30 and for the next three years he played only 64 games and hit .222 with three homers. He was thoroughly done, and then the Yankees got him, Then, at age 34, last year, he hit 16 homers, slugged .496 and helped the Yankees reach the postseason again.

5. Ichiro. He was 38 years old last year.

Ichiro for Seattle in 2012: .261/..288/.353.

Ichiro for Yankees in 2012: .322/.340/.454

6. Bartolo Colon. He did not pitch at all 2010 and had not made 25 starts in a season in six years. He made 26 starts for the Yankees and the team won more than than half of them, and while there was all sorts of talk about HGH and stem cells and various other nefarious methods that Colon might have used to get back, Michael is convinced it was simply Yankees black magic.

Now, at this exact moment, the Yankees are by any objective measure a dreadful team. Look at a typical lineup.

Leading off: Brett Gardner (CF). Missed almost all of last year with injury.

Batting second: Robinson Cano (2B). Truly great player.

Batting third: Vernon Wells (LF), who the Angels paid $29 million to go away.

Batting fourth: Travis Hafner (DH), who is 36, and hasn?t slugged .500 in seven years. He?s slugging .500 now.

Batting fifth: Ichiro Suzuki (RF), who the Mariners dumped last year. Batting FIFTH?

Batting sixth: Jayson Nix (3B). Thirty-year-old on his fifth big league team, replacing injured Kevin Youkilis who was dumped by both Red Sox and White Sox last year.

Batting seventh: Lyle Overbay (1B). Thirty-six year old on his fifth team since 2010. He?s slugging .480.

Batting eighth: Alberto Gonzalez (SS). Thirty-year-old backup shortstop for five teams, he replaced Eduardo Nunez, who was hitting .200 while replacing Derek Jeter, whose ankle may or may not be getting better.

Batting ninth: Christ Stewart (Cat.). Thirty-one year old backup catcher for fifth organization.

Now, seriously, what if that team was playing in Kansas City. Or Seattle. Or Milwaukee. Take away Cano, and you can imagine it very easily. How many games would that team win? More to the point, how many would they lose? Ninety-five? A hundred? In New York, that lineup ? and a pitching staff with 41-year-old Andy Pettitte and 38-year-old Hiroki Kuroda trying to get the game to 43-year-old Mariano Rivera ? is in first place with the best record in the American League.

I continue to tell Michael It won?t last. But the truth is, I?m losing faith in the science-based baseball world. I know that sooner or later, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter will return. And, I must admit, that?s magic even I have no choice but to believe in.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/14/yankees-school-of-witchcraft-and-wizardry/related/

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